Hand drawn or painted FDC (first day covers) have been done since the 1940s. Over the past few years I have begun combining my collection of comic character hand drawn sketches with FDCs. This blog is being maintained for the purpose of sharing my collection...

Friday, September 24, 2010

The year is 1944. An allied force advances along a war-torn beach in a strange land, outnumbered and far from home...Led by a toy soldier and a teddy-bear named Max, Princes, Quackers, Percy, Jester set off on a journey to find their boy....The story is incredible and the art is fantastic.

The pencil sketch is on a Celebrate the Century first day cover honoring the Teddy Bear. Named after President Teddy Roosevelt, the first teddy was made by the German company Steiff, which was exhibited at the Leipzeg Toy Fair, March 1903. by 1906 the craze for these bear was in full swing.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Hamilton received his Bachelor's in Commercial Art and began working in the field of freelance illustration. Hamilton would produce illustrations for magazine and book covers, as well as advertising art.

In 1993 Hamilton contacted Ketcham about an opportunity to draw Dennis the Menace should Ketcham retire. Ketcham liked what he saw, so Hamilton re-trained his drawing style to match Ketcham's and eventually took over the daily panels.

Marcus Hamilton was awarded the Reuben Award for Best Newspaper Panel 2004.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Ferdinand attended the School of Visual Arts (1971-73) and the Art Students League (1974).

In 1981, Ferdinand read an interview with Hank Ketcham in Jud Hurd's Cartoonist PROfiles. Ferdinand sent some pencil sketches to Ketcham and after a few months of correspondence, he was brought in to work on the Dennis the Menace comic books for Marvel Comics. In 1982, Ferdinand began drawing the Sunday pages for Ketcham.

On July 16, 2010 the USPS issued a set of 5 stamps honoring the Sunday Funnies (Dennis the Menace, Beetle Bailey, Garfield, Archie and Calvin and Hobbes).

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Ketcham had been an animator for Walter Lantz and Walt Disney. During World War II, Ketcham, serving in the Navy, created a comic strip about the military called "Half Hitch".

In 1950, while working in his studio that the cartoon Dennis was born, when his wife came in and complained that their 4-year old son Dennis was a menace. In 1951 Dennis the Menace was published.

Dennis' mis-adventures have been published in both the comic strips and comic books, cartoons, movies and a TV series. The TV series, which ran from 1959-1963, was my first exposure to Dennis. The call of "Hey, Mr. Wilson!" still brightens my day. He has since become one of my favorites, which I still read to this day. Although Dennis has never grown older he certainly has grown wiser.

Ketcham retired in 1994, with production of the strips being handed over to his assistants. Ron Ferdinand produces the Sunday color funnies, And Marcus Hamilton draws the daily panel.

Always one of my favorite characters, I enjoy the fact that besides Hank Ketcham, Dennis also signed the above sketch.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Glenn Whitmore, Superheroes for Hospice, Eatontown, NJ 2010.09.11Glenn Whitmore was a freelance colorist for DC comics for 10 years, his first assignment on Hawk & Dove, 1988. Whitmore also worked on several Superman titles, Flash, Justice Society and Power of Shazam, as well as work for Dark Horse (The Moth) and Archie Comics...

As a penciller, Whitmore worked on a cover image for Justice League of America Archives #3, and his self published Captain Clockwork, 2000 Big Bang Comics published by Image.

The self-published Captain Clockwork Chronology and Captain clockwork Special were issued in 2007...

Achilles has worked with Arch Nemesis and Pronto Comics, for which he is working on "Out in Space". Pronto Comics is an independent comic book company which helps writers and artists in self-publication of their work, build portfolios and put on workshops. Pronto celebrated it's first anniversary June 2010, congratulations.

We interrupt this program to bring you ...Courage the Cowardly Dog Show....

John R. 'Dilly' Dilworth is best known as the producer, director and creator of the Courage the Cowardly Dog series that ran on Cartoon Network from 1999-2002 a total of 52 episodes, each featuring 2 stories, all involving the supernatural.

Dilworth was nominated for an Academy Award in 1995 for the animated short The Chicken From Outer Space. Dilworth was commissioned by Cartoon Network to turn the short into a series, which eventually became the popular Courage the Cowardly Dog Show.

Dilworth's breakout film was The Dirdy Bird (1994) winning numerous prizes including a place in the permanent archive of the Venice Film Festival.

After making a purchase from Dilly's website Stretch Films, I received an e-mail from Dilly stating that one of the items I had purchased was out of stock, would I be interested in something else. Of course I directed him to this site and explained I would really like to get a sketch of Courage. He agreed, I was astonished. At first I did not tell my boys. after the second e-mail I mentioned Dilworth and he immediately asked if that was the creator of Courage. I let them read the e-mails and they finished reading with one word, "Cool".

I sent the cover and we waited impatiently...I had chosen a Universal Monsters Mummy stamp first day cover for the Courage sketch. One of the first Courage cartoons I saw was King Ramses' Curse. In this cartoon Courage finds a rare slab stolen from a mummy's tomb, Eustace's (Courage's owner) greed causes the mummy's ghost to bring forth his ancient curse along with the spooky disembodied voice saying "Return the slab!" A classic cartoon.

When the cover arrived I was speechless. It was as if my tongue was ripped from my head. The sketch of Courage was awesome, better than expected!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Chris Ring created the miniseries comic "CarbonKnight", which he self-published through Lunar Studios, and is currently working with Paul Michael Kane on the PMK's comic book "Perfect Victim" and "Nevermore" a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories. Chris Ring's art can be seen at his website The Art of Chris Ring. Sketch obtained on May 15, 2010 at the Wild-Pig Convention, Springfield, NJ.

Boba Fett is a fan favorite from the Star Wars Universe. A villainous bounty hunter had a major part in Star Wars Return of the Jedi. Boba Fett also was animated for the Star Wars Holiday Special broadcast on television in 1978.

About Me

I have been a collector as far back as I can remember. Stamps, covers, autographs, baseball cards, comic books, coins, political buttons, sports memorabilia, space stamps and covers, and the list goes on.
This blog was set up to be able to share a small part of my collection with anyone who shares the interest.